Really interesting stuff Ian! Crazy to think that Batmania was all but over in the US with the production of the Third Season already under way by the time folks downunder even got to see "Hi Diddle Riddle". Perspective is everything, eh?

Really interesting stuff Ian! Crazy to think that Batmania was all but over in the US with the production of the Third Season already under way by the time folks downunder even got to see "Hi Diddle Riddle". Perspective is everything, eh?

It premiered in Canberra on the Wednesday before the dates mentioned above for Adelaide. In Sydney, we got "Hi Diddle Riddle" on the previous Sunday night, with the conclusion on the following Tuesday.

I was surprised to see such early mention of King Tut in the article, and the Catwoman episode with Chad & Jeremy! (The poster for their concert, as displayed at The Hollywood Museum this year, includes the date of my birthday in 1966!)

I have been trying to determine exactly when the 1966 movie made it Down Under. The Scanlen's "Bat Laffs" movie gum cards (reprinting Topps) are marked 1967. I have been able to ascertain that the movie did not get an inner city premiere, but opened in the suburban cinemas instead. Quite low key. (Apart from the presence of four arch villains working together in the gum cards, I had no memory of the movie until seeing a daybill for it on my local railway station in the early 70s, for a retro screening, and then it got an airing on TV in about 1980*.)

*Wow! Found the listing: "Nine Network, Saturday November 15, 1980, 11.00am" was a repeat TV screening of the movie in Sydney, only a few months before VCRs became affordable. (The next screening, my new recorder was in for repairs, so a friend had to tape it for me!)

Really interesting stuff Ian! Crazy to think that Batmania was all but over in the US with the production of the Third Season already under way by the time folks downunder even got to see "Hi Diddle Riddle". Perspective is everything, eh?

I was surprised to see such early mention of King Tut in the article, and the Catwoman episode with Chad & Jeremy! (The poster for their concert, as displayed at The Hollywood Museum this year, includes the date of my birthday in 1966!)

Hi Ian,
Great article on the Adelaide premiere.
I'm going to go out on a limb however and suggest that the Sydney debut of the TV series was earlier than Adelaide. Reason being that my family didn't move to Sydney till 1967 and I remember being obsessed with the show (surprise surprise!) upon first seeing it on an old B&W TV in our home prior to the move to Sydney.
So my theory is that it might have been on Sydney TV sometime late 1966...
Keep in mind this was in the 'old days' when Adelaide and Brisbane channels were considered 'regional' in comparison to Sydney and Melbourne programming.
Take care,
Terry

Great article on the Adelaide premiere.
I'm going to go out on a limb however and suggest that the Sydney debut of the TV series was earlier than Adelaide. Reason being that my family didn't move to Sydney till 1967 and I remember being obsessed with the show (surprise surprise!) upon first seeing it on an old B&W TV in our home prior to the move to Sydney.
So my theory is that it might have been on Sydney TV sometime late 1966...

Nope. I watched Episode 1 in Sydney and I know exactly which teacher I had at the time. So again, we are looking at June 1967. She let us devise a "Batman" play at lunchtime (we had only seen a few villains at that point) and we performed it for the class. We focused mainly on building a "death trap" set out of our desks and chairs which I, as Robin, had to escape. The teacher then went on maternity leave at the August school holidays (old three-term year). The below review by journalist Nan Musgrove (printed "Australian Women's Weekly", July 5, 1967) places the Sydney premiere as the previous Sunday night (June 25), with the followup episode on the Tuesday (June 27), and (from a similar newspaper article), the Canberra premiere was on the Wednesday (June 28).

'HOLY RED SNAPPER' - IT'S BATMAN!

"All I can say about ATN7's 'Batman', after two episodes, and taking my note from Batman himself, is 'Heavens to Betsy!'

"Batman is American millionaire Bruce Wayne, who fights the forces of evil and triumphs over it episode after episode. Batman has other admirable qualities. He upholds the law at all times, he doesn't touch alcohol, he doesn't smoke. He has a clean tongue and never uses bad oaths or nasty words. 'Holy red snapper', 'Holy haberdashery' and 'Holy belt buckle' are some of his favourites.

"Batman is an excursion into the world of the comic strip and don't hold him against TV. Batman first appeared 27 years' ago as a comic book and has been popular, on and off, ever since.

"As a TV serial, I don't think I will watch it avidly, but if I ever want to escape into the world of Saturday arvo at the local flicks and the next episode of the serial, I'll know where to turn." - NAN MUSGROVE.

It seems that Adelaide then followed the next Monday and Tuesday (now into July). The weird thing about Adelaide TV, though, is that you guys often got new US and UK TV series months before Sydney and Melbourne. With its smaller population, Adelaide made for a useful test-run as to how to promote a show to the target demographics.

"Batman," the zany and legendary character of the comic books, has come to TV. According to one famous American TV critic, the series has also introduced a new type of man.

"Nowadays we not only have good guys and bad guys, we also have bat guys," he said.

Heading them is Adam West as Batman. Batman is really Bruce Wayne, a young millionaire who devotes his life to fighting evil when it threatens. And evil does threaten, twice a week on the Channel 7 network, when Batman appears. Somehow Batman escapes night after night in a series that sears the nerves and employs every cliff-hanging device known to comic books and hair-raising serials.

— NAN MUSGROVE

DYNAMIC DUO of the "Batman" series.
Far left is Burt Ward
as Robin, Batman's
young ward and aide,
masked, caped, and
ready to battle the
forces of evil. With
him is Adam West as
the mighty "Batman."

LEFT: The four leaders of United
Underworld, from left to right, the
Penguin (Burgess Meredith), the
Riddler (Frank Gorshin), the Cat-
woman (Lee Meriwether), and the
Joker (Cesar Romero), plot their
wicked assault upon the world.

ABOVE: Batman and Robin zip
down the highway in the Batmobile
on a mission against United Under-
world. Batman and Robin also
drive a Batboat, fly a Batcopter.

Problem solved, thanks to Emma Gray over at "Sydney Cinemas Flashback" on Facebook.

Now I have the review date of the "Batman" movie, I can actually find the film on my 1967 complete Sydney CBD list. How hilarious that it's in the same movie period as "Winnie-the-Pooh and the Honey Tree", which is the film *we* got taken to that school holidays! (As a double bill with "The Ugly Dachshund".)

So "Batman" did run in the Sydney CBD, at the now-defunct Palace Theatre, on a double-bill with "Smoky" (1966), from August 25 - September 7, 1967, the New South Wales school holidays. ("Batman" wasn't showing up for me before because the database listed the bill as "Batman+Smoky", all one word!)